Long Beach’s housing plan needs more scrutiny: Editorial

Long Beach’s eight-year draft housing element is a technical, complicated document that gets little attention outside a small circle of developers and housing advocates.

But it will have a dramatic effect on the shape of the city, its people and the homes they live in.

The housing element is the city’s blueprint to ensure that the housing needs of all of its residents will be met — from the poorest to the wealthiest. It’s mandated by the state and an important indicator of the city’s priorities.

What the city lays out in this 186-page document speaks to officials’ commitment to create and maintain affordable housing in a city where the majority are renters and homeownership remains out of reach. That document is up for review and will be adopted next year.

To put that in perspective, it would take a household income of $109,000 to afford a median-priced home in Long Beach of $437,000. The city’s median household income is $52,945, with one in five residents earning less than $25,000. In this city, even the average rent at $1,395 strains budgets.

Housing is one of the single most important factors determining a city’s quality of life, so it’s crucial that officials adopt policies and take innovative steps to improve how we live. The Planning Commission is set to take up the housing element Thursday and the City Council will consider the draft before a final vote on adopting it next year.

There are some promising signs in the element with Long Beach officials vowing to promote tenant’s rights education and the long-term efforts at the Villages at Cabrillo — the largest non-governmental housing program for homeless veterans in the nation. The city also agreed to examine a program that will protect low-income tenants and punish negligent landlords.

But there are also gaps, questions and concerns about the city’s sense of urgency and ability to address the shortage of affordable housing, as housing advocates have pointed out.

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For instance, the city has laid out a plan to examine a rental escrow program that would have renters of decrepit homes pay into a fund that could go back into repairs, instead of paying their landlord. It’s a smart idea and should be top of the list. But the draft element calls for more than two years of studying the idea and makes no promise of implementation. They should expedite the study period and bring the idea before the council sooner.

And there is no time line for new units at Villages at Cabrillo.

There are other areas that need further examination, most prominently the city’s downtown development plans. Long Beach allows for higher density buildings downtown in its push for a denser, transit-friendly city core. That effort is threatening to gentrify an area where thousands of low-income families live. Yet, there is no comprehensive plan to maintain and develop affordable housing there.

There needs to be further clarification about the city’s strategy, especially as officials turn their attention to revitalizing downtown. That includes a deeper conversation about how to create mixed-income housing developments. Lastly and perhaps more concerning is the lack of significant dedicated housing funds with the elimination of redevelopment agencies across the state.